Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-08
TIE COLOR LLNE.

Away U = II me NOUN, WlSIc LIG SuON
clothes the earth in e doubIet of frigid
purity every writer, the people who have
long claimed for themselves the title OF
the "God ard Morality party" nave Just
discovered that, after all, the Colored man
and brother IS rot q desirable social
equal, or companion, during the heated
term. These benevolent denizeng ottae
aurora boreails lit cline have prayed and
preached long and loud for chance to
demonstrate their ideas Of q thorough
iuIfument of the wishes Of these estima-
Die gentlemen who marked the history Of
the republic with the fourteenth
and fifteenth amendments. They
raised their hands il holy horror when
some beloved carpet Dagger wrote let
ter to the "truIy IoiI" newspapers telling
them how the southern ''rebeI" refused
and persisted in refusing to invite the
coIored man to his table, give hin his
daughter in marriage and share his state
room or Pullman sleeper with him. 1t
was an outrage, they said; il was p VIC
lation and notification of the laws of
the land; it wss g defiance Of constituted
authority and an outrageous pToscrip-
ton to refuse 70 receive 2 mGI
on terms Of social equality. \
southern gentleman might lad boor-
ish and uncongenial companions amoug
his own color; he might shut his
door IN the faces of ignorant and disso-
lutte whites, but if he prevented g coIored
man from trespassing on his individual
rights he was guilty OF e grave ohense,
The Col0red man was told that the old
abolition sentiment in the north still
lived, and al ne had to do was to 90
there in order to enjoy full liberty and
social equality. In Yankeedom, il g man
paid his poll tax ne was just as good as
any other man, no matter what the color
of his skin. Agitators and modern Mo
seses were sent south to lead the sable
children OF Israel out OF the land
of bondage and into the land of promise,
and these apostles Of light succeeded in
convincing many that their former friends
and masters were their enemies, and that
friends, pure aud disinterested, lived
north of Mason and Dixon's line. As q
natural result, those colored men who
could be swayed by the sophistries of
these itineraut evangelists, forsook the
old home and associations with which
they were familiar, and moved north
ward. They naturally expected to find
ali the glorious promises realized es
soon as they set foot upon northern soil.
First-class hotels, offices of public trust
and various positions of honor and emoI-
ument were to be found waiting for them,
and no distinction was to be made be-
tween the races. Recent events have
proven the fallacy of these expectations,
In the south the colored man secures all
recognition which his education or talents
merit; in the north the color Of his skin
damns him. In Philadelphia, the strong
hold of RepubLcanism and, with Boston,
the twin cradle Of the aboIition idea, the
coIored pupils were prohibited from join
ing their voices in the songs Of rejoicing
on the nations natal day. The law
gave them the right to attend the free
schools and mingle with the white chill
dren, but, no matter how well qualified,
they could not aud must not disport and
display themselves in company with white
children, when anyone could see them
Not because CT their color; Oh, 10! It'll
WAS because "their voices were harsher
and did not accord harmoniously with
the voices of the white children"
Further north, the owner of Ash
bury Park, staunch RepubH- /
can, has refused permission TO
colored people to enter his premises
no matter whist money they are willing to
pay, and in the Grand Army of the Re |
public colored men who had the aYful /
presumption to claim social equality with |
the men who fought and bled and died |
for them we're incontinently cured" |
Thus the loud mouthed professions and |
g-ardi!oquent vauntings oft.e north have
been proven to be nothing more than
sounding brass and tinkling cymbaIs.
While the question wss only theoretical
one al was fair sailing; as
soon SIS it was reduced to pratical test
it was q different thing. Even the pa
triotic ingalls, went SO fsr as to say that X
the extension of the right of suffrage to
the colored people was q fatal mistake.